Wednesday, July 29, 2009

And so it begins....again

So I've been neglegent, again. My sincerest apologies. I guess I feel that since I've been here so long, my life is a little repetitive and I don't have as many new things to share. But I'll try!

The last semester ended in a storm of craziness, as usual. I think I could teach for 40 years and it would still be the same. :o) Several events made it crazier than usual, however.
First of all I was in charge of the class who was in charge of putting on the high school banquet. Which means that I was basically in charge of putting on the banquet. I did have 2 moms/teachers helping me, but I definitely felt the weight of responsibility most of the time. The last few days wasn't so bad. This is a good thing since the day of the banquet I started to feel under the weather. By the time the banquet had arrived I had a full-on headache, felt miserable, and was starting to get very warm. This was both a blessing and a curse. The curse is obvious--I felt horrible. The blessing is that I didn't have enough energy to care if everything went perfectly or not. So I pretty much gave up control (although the kids didn't realize it), and let the MC's take over (2 of our Juniors). They would come ask me questions, or I would sign directions to them from my seat, so I appeared to be in charge, but I really didn't care what happened at that point!
And no one could tell that I was wearing sweatpants and slippers underneath my fancy dress...except for the fact that I showed everyone because I thought it was funny (I told you I didn't feel well enough to care!).The banquet was a huge success...a few moments fell flat, but those were few and far between. The room was decorated beautifully, the food was pretty good, and the entertainment was hysterical. All in all, a fun time. Then we had to clean up, and I had to drive home. I think I got in bed around 2am.
The next day I felt even more miserable with achy joints and an obvious fever. Needless to say I stayed in bed several days. I was just starting to feel better when I passed out and felt even worse than I had before...although in a different way. And then just as I was truly getting better, the high school classes were canceled because 2 other teachers had gotten sick as well! So I had a few extra days to get completely well and not have to push myself too much. This made the class schedule interesting as the 2 days that were canceled were the last 2 days before review days for the finals! So it was quite interesting to figure out how to fit everything in...especially since I wasn't even at school to do it! I had to be flexible, of course, and some tests ended up being take-home-open-book tests. And then I had a LOT of grading to do when school started again. And since I wrote my finals while I had the flu (which may or may not have been the swine flu...Several kids in our school had it, although I never went to the doctor to check since my fever went away by the third day), I found several typos in them! Oops!

So anyway, finals were taken, grades were figured, and report cards were handed out. All with minimal stress for me. I'm not quite sure how that happened! Then I had to start saying goodbye to my friends. Remember how in the last post I said that there were several Americans that I spent a lot of time with? Well, they ALL left in July. I said goodbye to 3 of them just after school let out. Then my friend Amy and I went on a little tour of South America for 2 1/2 weeks. We went to Buenos Aires, Uruguay, Iguazu Falls, and San Pedro de Atacama (in the north of Chile, in the world's driest desert). It was a very fast and tiring trip as we could only stay a few days in each place and had to take a few VERY long bus rides (two 18 hour trips and two 24 hour trips). But it was so worth it. (Pictures are on my facebook page, if you have access to that...as are pictures of the banquet.) And then we got home and I had to say goodbye to Amy. The friend situation was looking gloomy. I was left with my Chilean friend Lorena, my high school friend/little sister Melissa Rogers, and my roommates who I don't spend much time with although they're all very nice. Obviously I have other friends, but none that I spend a lot of time with. Then I found out that Melissa is going to the States for a semester to study there. And then there was one. :o(

So this semester is a semester of transition. I have to start all over again making friends. I've already met a few (some teachers and another exchange student who I met through Amy), and one more teacher is yet to come. So we'll see. But it's a completely different group dynamic this year as the new young missionaries are either married couples or guys. And I tend to be close friends with girls. So we shall see!

Another transition has to do with my teaching schedule. Not only is it still PACKED (I haven't dropped anything, although worship team was taken out of my schedule and now I'm teaching it after school on Mondays...yay)...BUT I'm ALSO taking on a new class. A class I'm a little nervous about. And that class is 8th grade math. What? you say. An English teacher giving a math class? Are you crazy? Well, I just might be. But I purposefully picked an easy math so I can reteach myself as I go (I liked math in high school, but I haven't HAD any math since high school!!), and since I've already taught the English classes my first year here, the prep work won't be so bad. And math prep work is pretty light, and the class has only 4 students. SO. Not to bad of a situation. It's just another challenge I wasn't expecting. And math isn't my forte like English is, so my instincts aren't kicking in as well on how to organize the lessons. So please pray for that!

So there you have it. My two main prayer requests. My potential lonliness as my social life has been upended, and my potential stress and I'm forced to use the other side of my brain now. :o)
Thanks for reading! I will try very hard to post more often!